Behind the faces of the crystal meth scarred mugshots of white trash America, lies more than meets the eye. Once these faces belonged to a people establishing new frontiers conquering the vast landscape of mainland America, a people of character and perseverance. Winter’s Bone, Debra Granik’s second feature is a fascinating tale about seventeen-year old Ree’s search for her father. Ree Dolly, a magnificent performance by Jennifer Lawrence, has to find her father, a crystal meth cook, who fails to show up at court, to prevent bounty hunters from seizing the house her remaining family, a confused mother, two younger siblings and herself live in. Ree seems to be the personification of the strength and courage the people in this God forsaken region still posses.
The film takes a while to get underway because Granik really wants to convince the audience that Winter’s Bone takes place in a region immersed in addiction and desperation. The result is lots of shots of run down farms, car wrecks and hillbillies fiddling with their banjos. The film takes a turn for the better when slowly it becomes clear that Dad isn’t somewhere living it up, but has vanished from the face of the earth. Ree’s search for her father gets hazardous when she is confronted with the fact that the very people, most often family since everybody in the film seems related, who she turns for help try to shut her up in menacing tone. Everybody is afraid ‘The Law’ might get wind of the whole thing. A whole community of users/producers unravels along the process. Entire families are hooked on their own supply. Despite the many wide shots of the open spaces a feeling of claustrophobia creeps up by this entanglement of users, cookers and families.
Even though everybody is suspicious, Ree is liked and gets clues about who to turn to concerning her father’s whereabouts. They lead to ominous, dark characters with names like Teardrop and Thump. The tension builds when she’s instructed not to ask the mysterious and powerful Thump anything directly to his face. As if he’s like the Medusa from the Greek myth, which made you turn into stone if you gazed in its eyes too long. This mythical quality of the movie gets enhanced by the many hardships Ree has to endure on her quest (like Odyssey and Hercules for that matter). She deals with them like a true heroin, never losing faith in herself.
This is one of the reasons the film was ultimately well received by the population in the concerning area in the state of Missouri. Many were weary of yet another portrait of a lost people, mainly maid up by criminals, addicts and stupid rednecks who got what they deserved. But Granik won their trust by casting minor roles from the area, Ree’s little sister actually lives in the house the whole story begins with, and using actors who work on the coasts but grew up near the Ozark Mountains to enhance authenticity (Jennifer Lawrence is from the neighboring state of Kentucky). She also gives their music an important role in the movie. But what’s most important is the fact that Ree represents the same values as they do, namely courage, perseverance and willingness to sacrifice. The Ozark people identify with Ree and not with the depressing image the American media paints of them.
Rating: ****
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